HORSESHOE COMPENDIUM

state champion; John Fulton, of Carlisle, Eastern Pennsylvania champion.
Mahoney won with an average of 80.9 per cent and a high game of 89.7 per cent, both of which set new records for New Jersey competition. Fileccia finished second, averaging 75 per cent with a high game of 83.7 per cent. Hamann was third, with an average of 75.4 per cent, and a high game of 89.2 per cent. Hurst was fourth, averaging 73.2 per cent with a high game of 85.8 per cent. Frye was fifth with an average of 70 per cent, and a high game of 78 per cent. Fulton and Seaman failed to qualify for Class "A" and finished first and second in Class "B" in the order named. Fulton averaged 64.2 and Seaman 63.7 percent.
This fine competition amply rewards the Hudson County men notably Benjamin Murphy, Thomas Ellis, Otto Peters, Clare Hume and Claude Hart, for their tireless efforts to make their tournament worthy of the best competitors. New Jersey would like to take this opportunity to thank their neighboring state leaders for their fine co-operation in this and other tournaments.
A prime factor in the development of the game was the organization throughout the state of numerous horseshoe clubs. Among the first to organize was the Pellington Horseshoe Club of East Orange, Paterson Associated Clubs of Paterson, Camden Horseshoe Club of Camden, Liberty Horseshoe Club of West Orange, and the Bergen, Audubon and Pershing Clubs of Jersey City. Others were the Englewood Horseshoe Club of Englewood, The Forest Hill Club of Newark, and the Watchung Horseshoe and Social Club of West Orange.
In October, 1936, the Bergen, Audubon and Pershing groups united to form the Hudson County Horseshoe Club and in February, 1938, this latter group was incorporated and at the end of the decade was one of the strongest units in the State Association, along with the Englewood Club and the Forest Hill Club. Of the earlier groups, Camden and Paterson had indoor courts for winter pitching, followed by the Hudson County Club in 1936 and Forest Hill in 1939.
Indoor pitching during the winter months has done a lot to keep the game going and through numerous friendly matches between the various clubs. During the winter of 1938-1939 several individual matches were staged by the Hudson County Club and the Englewood Clubs. The first was a match between Larry Mahoney and Ted Allen on the Hudson County Courts. Mahoney won three games out of five averaging 75 per cent against 76.6 per cent for Allen. Vito Fileccia then took a crack at the Jersey champ on the same courts but could not win a game even though